A Quarter Century ago yesterday (6/30/87) the Romanoff Republic invaded Wonderland north of the Boarder. Another unforgettable adventure to a strange universe was had by ALL who attended. Killer brenoli, international spirits and another incredible performance by The Boys made this 48 hour sojourn into a foriegn land one of my personal favorites. Sadly, one romanoff did not return as Billy Bob took one too many to the head and spilled his Guts to the wrong fellows, and ended up too hurt to continue. Check out the Map of Wonderland for Flashbacks and Memories from one of Many fanastic voyages of 1987. REMEMBER to continue the trek, FURTHUR on up the road. BRENOLI!


Nicoli Romanoff



p.s.... Best Scarlet-Fire EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

`Amazing 87 summer show! One of the best of the Summer and Fall tour. This Audience recording is as good as it gets. I love me a great Audience!!

Lots of Energy with this show and tape!!
A must have!!!

I had had many a mind expanding experience, but never understood the draw of the Dead. I got tickets, lining up with some friends. 16 years old, not understanding what I was going to see. Older, wiser friends telling me that this was a truly exciting thing, the Dead coming to my hometown... Toronto.

Met some cats from Rodchester on the Subway on the way to the show. The freaks were gathering. They recommended checking out "After Bathing At Baxters" by the Airplane if I wanted to hear something really far out. (ended up being one of my faves.) Spoke with them, and friends, and more freaks as we packed the buses to take us from Sheppard station to Wonderland.

Got to the venue, hung out with friends on the lawns surrounding the park, smoking grass and being generally amazed at the scene that decended on this family theme park. Nothing more surreal than to see 20,000 doped out freaks at our equivalent to Disneyland.

Very very very cool vibe... no doubt the band picked it up... everyone was completely excited. Dropped some Edible Dow and prepared everything for entry to the show. Brought in some really huge sparklers to play with during the set. I must admit that lighting enormous 2 foot swords of white hot burning phospherous while tripping out in a jostling dancing crowd was a pretty bad idea. Security was on us in no time and a friend ran off with the sparklers through the crowd. BUT no one was hurt or kicked out so on and on we danced into the night.

Memories of the dude with the bottles throwing them in the air, thinking how incredibly dangerous and scary that was.

This show was so magical, so amazing, so life changing. The most incredible thing was trying to describe the experience to people afterwards... absolutely futile. Thank god for CIUT who was given a copy of the show by the soundman. It was replayed on the station weeks later and I was able to get a copy... listened to it until the tape ran out.

If there are a few things in life that I am truly grateful for (no pun intended) this show is one of them. This show was one of the single most incredible Experiences I have ever had.

A big thank you to the Band, it's fans, my friends and all who made this day what it was.

A big thank you to all who post Dead shows for free. This allows us to remember more succinctly pieces of life that while unforgettable were still a little foggy.

Thanks to all who posted about their experiences here. From the public transit to the show, to the guy with the bottles in the crowd.

Thank you Jerry wherever you are. (Ah here you are singing on my computer...)

;o)

Overall: this easily gets my vote for best show of 87 (perhaps followed by 9/9/87). The venue, the energy, the tune selection, the quality of play = truly standout show in a decent, but not great year. This recording is good because it captures the feel of the venue - I don't think a soundboard does true justice to the show. The other one on Archive I think is a little better.

The scene: this was my third show. The ampitheater is inside Canada's Wonderland - an amusement park I'd visited once with my dad a few years prior (I grew up in Rochester, about 2-3 hours away). At that time, we walked through Kingswood Theater and there was some sort of variety show going on. I never would have imagined that I'd be seeing the GD there a few years later. It seemed way too tiny for a real concert. I've learned the venue is 14,000, but it seemed much smalled to me. So dropping and then riding the standup roller coaster, then seeing a GD show at a small interesting venue? How about one of the best days you can imagine??

The music: So strong. First set is extra long for the time period because they're building up their "endurance" for the Dylan/Dead shows that start a week later (at those shows they combined their own 1st and 2nd sets into one really long set, then backed Dylan for a second set). Some really great board work by Healey, who adds great echoes and sound effects. The venue was perfect for this because it had this multi-teared tent-like structure as the top of the ampitheater that naturally created some weird (awesome) acoustics. Picture Shoreline at a quarter the size and with the tent hung by someone with a sense of humor and you'll have the right idea generally. So each and every song in the first set is really strong and well played by each and every member of the band. No weak links. Check out the perfect harmonies on Masterpiece. But the second set is where it really gets special. A tiny bit of space erupts into a smokin Scarlet. Then a really great transition to Fire. It's no 77, but it's very very good for this time period. Then when they get to Fire, Healey turns Phil up EXTRA loud for two bars and the crowd just erupts. At the time, the sun was setting behind the venue in a really spectacular sunset. The Estimated is vocally my favorite of all time. Yes, of all time. The jamming is no better than "very good" but Bobby's vocals, combined with Healey's echos and pitch distortions really make this *vocally* a very special Estimated. Please feel free to email me if you know of one that is better vocally because I'd truly love to hear it. The Eyes is solid but a little short, but we're treated with a really great Brent/Bobby jam. The drums/space is also one of the best of this time period. The band is basically still out in space when they start the Other One, which is a fantastic version. They slow down for a very pretty China Doll. Then it is all out rockfest. Fantasy, Around>Good Lovin is spectacular. This is 87 and I'm using the word spectacular. Rare. Bobby does a great rap for the Good Lovin. If you can't feel the energy dripping from the stage and the audience at that point, you are numb. Phil rounds it out perfectly with a Box encore. A truly great show.

What a show to be introduced to the Dead - the day was PERFECT and so were the surroundings.
The guy with the broken leg in a cast "freaking out" was ironically enough the brother of the Drummer of OUR LADY PEACE - poor James - he thought he was being led down to the executioner to get his head chopped off with an axe - taken away by the guys in white coats, he was put in a room with a few others to come down and missed the show. Big thanks to the big girl in the tie dyed Muu-Muu who promptly put him on his ass and stopped him from throwing bottles in the air. The problem was the CLOWN ACID - much more potent then any of us locals were used to.
That show changed my life.

This was my first of many and the only show I was able to get to on local public transit (I indeed got on the bus this night!). I was a lucky kid; the band was hitting a 3 or 4 year consistent hot streak, and I was just getting buckled in to enjoy the ride. The recording is a nice crisp AUD of an above-average summer '87 show, it is long and fun with Healy effects used effectively throughout and in the end, Phil sends us home with a "thanks" and a "goodnight"

No. Thank you Phil. Thank you boys. Thank you crew. Thank you fellow heads. Thank you tapers. Thank you uploaders. Thank you Archive. Thank you for the music and the memories and "thank you for a real good time!" I celebrate the anniversary of this show every year and it's hard to believe that it's been almost 20 years since those heady days...I'm forever Grateful! : )

It maybe the imperfections of this recording that add that extra touch that has always stuck with me. This tape and this recording have always had a special spot in my collection. The band has some great moments of wonder that only they did. I would disagree with other reviews and say this Scarlet-Fire is outstanding and the Estinated is a prime Bobby freak fest with all the Heally touches. This is a great recording for the new fan to find a base to begin working off of. It truely seems to capture the music and the greater festival that was.

does this tune remind anyone else of "Full House" tv show opening sequence?

haha

Great show, great recording. At the show, the sky was an incredibly strange color during Scarlet, lending an edge to the lyric "the sky was yellow and the sun was blue," that many at the show commented on. During Fire the crowd goes bananas at one point. The sound during drums that resembles one of the drummers having bad gas was a motorcycle being miked on the stage. You don't see that at every Dead show. A friend of mine who I went to show with swears to this day that he heard Garcia sing "wake up to find out that you are the SIZE of the world." A fitting change, but I did not hear it at the time, nor on the recording.

Wow, wow, wow! My favorite show from 87 bar-none. Excellent recording with plenty of Phil. Great audience vibe. Great set list. Healy rides the dials manipulating the sounds to great effect, especially during Estimated - incredible. Definitely the dark horse of shows from 87, often overlooked - get it!

Recommended show...and great audience recording. Ladner's unknown mics must be pretty good. And the sweet spot was always found as can be heard here as well as 8/15/87 and 8/20/87.